Watermelon Party

so this last week i was in Japan :)

japan was much more of a culture shock since no one spoke any english and it was much less westernized compared to hong kong.

first of all, getting from HK to Japan was a complete nightmare! the flight itself was only 4 hours but we flew into Narita, then had to carry all of our luggage (26 people x 2 bags x 50lbs/bag) through the airport to the express train into Tokyo then transfer at the tokyo station (which was not made for people w/ luggage!) to Kyoto. and after 17 hours we finally made it!

So on Friday we went to the Golden Pavillion and walked around an area called Gion.

Saturday was a lot of fun. We went to Shiga, which is the sister area for Michigan. We visited a Shigaraki pottery place and I got to show some creativity because they actually let us try to make some pottery :) The pottery was so beautiful and Shiga is very rural and untouched. Then we went to the Koga NINJA house. The Koga family was a ninja family for a few generations and the house has a ton of trap doors and hidden stairways and it was so fun. and I got to throw the ninja swords, and made the target 2/5 times.... which i think is impressive. Then we met some sumo wrestlers! they weren't wrestling since it is the off season but oh well.

the next day a few of us rented bikes and rode around Kyoto. We found a temple in one of the mountains that overlooked Kyoto and they sold grape fanta slushees :) yummo

we also saw 3 GEISHAS, which is pretty wild that it is still a part of their culture!

Our ride back was my favorite memory because we watched a group of 20 japanese students/adults have a watermelon party. One guy was blindfolded and was spun around and then had to find the watermelon on the group and smash it with a stick. they were so EXCITED when he finally hit it and they saw us watching and invited us to have watermelon with them. It was so cute because they were teaching us how to eat it and trying to describe not eating the black seeds. (i didn't have the heart to tell them we have watermelon in the states). And they wanted to take 1000 pictures of us, so funny!

Monday we went to Hikone and had a traditional tea ceremony (you need a lot of patience for this) and then went on a little boat cruise.

Tuesday we visited Hiroshima, which was definitely emotional and very hard to get through but interesting to learn from a Japanese viewpoint. Then we went to Miyajima island and saw the Itsukushima Shrine. The island was gorgeous and there were deer literally just walking around and one stuck his head in my purse and pulled out my Hiroshima brochure and ate it. cute :)

Then the last day me & kaitlynn got our feet done, after nonstop traveling for 5 weeks! we did some shopping in Kyoto, ate tempura & sake in Tokyo, then celebrated at the hotel with the group.

Overall, Japan was exhausting but a lot of fun

..... but i think i lost my heart to Hong Kong :) the best trip of my life. i can't wait to go back and i miss so much about the city and the asian culture already! i <3 HK

tell me your favorite song

so these past few days have been nonstop busy, and the the next few days will be just as crazy.

once I got back from Beijing I spent the beginning of the week preparing for my final presentation and studying for my final exam.

we had a really nice 10 course banquet after our exam, and i tried jelly fish. it was kinda lame, but cool to say i ate it

and after we had finished all that last thursday, we definitely celebrated....chinese style....

we did KARAOKE!

and it was soo much fun!!!! The whole group went out and we had a private room and they had a huge selection of western songs: oldies, 90s, one hit wonders, and top 40 stuff. ever since then i've had a random song pop in my head and then while I'm trying to figure out why I have the song in my head i'll remember... Oh ya, we sang that at Karaoke. ex: i would walk 500 miles....

it's been fun, haha.

the next day some of us went to Shenzhen, a city in mainland China, that has this huge mall full of knock off watches/purses/etc. The mall is crazy big, about 6 stories. I bought some "Chanel" and "Fendi" sunglasses since I had stepped on my sunglasses when I got back from karaoke the night before :/

Saturday we went to Ocean Park - which i did not enjoy at all. too many people and too big! It's like cedar point 15 years ago meets san diego zoo meets sea world. but, to make up for my boring morning Kaitlynn and I finally made it to the Peak.

The Peak was SO BEAUTIFUL! It is the highest point in Hong Kong and we watched the city turn from day to night and it was such a cool transformation watching the city come to life. It also puts Hong Kong into perspective, just how big it is!! Even though I've been here for a month, looking at how huge this city is I realize that I haven't even seen 20% of it. And it is just so gorgeous. so sooo gorgeous!

Today me Andy Kevin and Kaitlynn had some great Dim Sum at a place in Tsim Sha Tsui (which I think might be one of my favorite areas). The place was classic Chinese style restaurant - with grandma style pink curtains and ruffles and "crystal" chandeliers all over and all these chinese women running around with bamboo stacks of dim sum. and i tried shark fin dumplings, which were great. to top it off, the shrimp dumplings were shaped like penguins and the marshmallows were shaped like bunnies. :) so fun.

the next few days consist of some field trips and laundry and packing and soaking in the city as much as i can. part of me is wishing that my flight this thursday was going back to DTW since i'm more home sick at this point, but I think Japan will be pretty cool. just hope no one has forgotten about me since i've been away ;)

Beijing-a-ling

So, I just got back from Beijing.

and it was sooo cool! i think everyone should put Beijing on there must-visit-list

there is so much i could say about the trip but to keep it reasonable i made a top ten :)

1- THE GREAT WALL! on july 17, 2009 i jumped around and shouted at the top of the great wall. and, i carried my pocket bible all the way to the top, opened it at a random passage and read psalm 104 - which was actually SO perfect! "The glory of the Lord shall endure forever; the Lord shall rejoice in his works" & "i will sing unto the lord as long as i live i will sing praise to my God while i have my being"

2-Tiananmen Sqaure.

3-Pictures - so the chinese looove to sneak pictures of you, and a lot will actually ask you to take pictures with them (i felt like a celeb). plus, they made the FUNNIEST poses while taking their pictures - remind me to reenact these when i get home ;)

4-PEKING DUCK. deliciousssss

5-Cameron. one of the guys on our trip that just added a little humor to all our situations - especially when he "gracefully" collapsed into the pool.

6-OLYMPIC PARK! i ran a lap around the olympic stadium. I would LOVE to be able to go to the next olympics, seems like such an amazing event.

7-bartering. this is always fun, and by the end of the trip we were great at it. i bought some chinese style shoes for about US $2.50

8-Hutong village. This really showed us what old Beijing was like and we took a rickshaw around the square.

9-Kung Fu. we watched a kung fu show, which was so impressive, and then all had this ridiculous song in our heads about a lotus and raindrops the next day.

10- BYOTP. I was pretty excited to get my asian experience when i had to use a squatter once in hong kong - but was so sick of them by the end of beijing, since that is all they had!! and no TOILET PAPER! one guy even charged me 1RMB to use a toilet. But, i can say i'm an expert squatter by now.

(11- ice cream. cheap and delicious. the mega orange creamsicle, and one that tasted like french silk pie/cool whip on a stick, and a banana cream pie flavored one. yum!)

finally made it back to hong kong and was completely exhausted. we moved to Chinese University for the next few days in HK. This university is SO gorgeous, imagine MSU but buried in a mountain. very cool - but, really inconvenient and expensive trying to get downtown, which is definitely a bummer

busy week ahead - final exam & presentation, and then a few days to soak in as much of HK as i can before we go to Japan next week!

Dim Sum and then some

and i still love hong kong :)

we did lots of school things this week. we visited the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Mandarin Oriental, and Disney! and we took our financial midterm

and i did lot of eating this week. Monday - chinese food in Mong Kok. Tuesday- chinese food on Nathan Street (where i tried goose and it was delicious). Wednesday - chinese food at central (where i tried something that i'm not sure what it was.... ). Thurday - chinese food w/ my big brother in TST. and yesterday we finally had some Dim Sum!! Which is a "must have" in Hong Kong. It was soo good. It's just a big variety of dumplings and buns and smaller dishes. Me & Kaitlynn are going back today for some more.

During one of our nights at Lan Kwai Fong (HK's grand river) we went to a bar owned by a canadian who is really cool. he has a lot of imported beer, which is a nice treat since the chinese don't have any great beer to offer.

the best part of this week was on friday. we went to the Big Buddha, and it was soo cool. you take this gondola up into the mountains, it's about a 25minute ride and it is so beautiful and stunning. and, the gondola is glass all around (even the floor) so a little adrenaline kick during the ride. the buddha is also very big and very cool and i think anyone who comes to HK should see this.

okay, i'm going out to enjoy this city.

hi mom, i miss you! and i love you!

a rainy update

Thursday night, a few of the girls went to Mong Kok and realized there are some cuuuute shoes in Hong Kong! My goal is to not buy anymore, otherwise i'm going to have to pay shipping to get them all home ;)

But really, Mong Kok was a lot of fun - exactly what you think of when you think China. There were crowded streets and bright signs everywhere and lots of bartering. And i got some authentic bubble tea, yum.

Friday we visited the Hong Kong Stock Exchange - and i wasn't really that impressed with it.

Later that night we went to dinner for Dr. Singh's birthday, and then a lot of us went to Lon Kwai Fong (a street with a ton of bars and clubs on it). I had so much fun and it was great to get to know the group even better.... especially when everyone loosened up & was dancing to this cover band. To really get an idea, you need to check out the facebook pictures. At one point there were red bunny ears and a checkered glove making its way around...

Saturday we went to Macau, and saw the old city which was gorgeous! They were owned by Portugal, so much of the architecture and food is combined Portuguese & Chinese. I picked up some snacks to bring back to the US, and the spiciest hot sauce everrr!

speaking of spicy - kaitlynn & i had THE SPICIEST food i've ever had in my life today. Some splattered into my eye and i thought i was going to lose my eye! When we were done, my lips were so swollen i looked like Mary Kate Olsen, with a stupid pout. I had to buy some banana ice cream just to cool off my mouth

Lots of field trips this week & a midterm for finance. And its crazy lightning and raining today and it looks soo sweet when the sky lights up and you can still see the outline of the mountains. love it

the first few days

i love hong kong! i can't say that enough :) and i still haven't been able to stop smiling since i've been here.

day 1 - Kaitlynn (my roommate) and i ventured out on our own to get a little lost in the city. We took the MTR to east Tsim Sha Tsui. This is the southern end of Kowloon which overlooks the island of Hong Kong. We found our way to the Peninsula Hotel, one of the nicest hotels in the world, and were totally blown away. We went up to the sun deck which looked over the bay toward Hong Kong.... and stole a hand towel from the bathroom as our souvenir, then got kicked out because we had flip flops on. We had some drinks at a little cafe and soaked in the view of this gorgeous city.

Later that night the group went out to celebrate and of course we got lost... and hungry... and decided to eat in the next restaurant we found.... which was soo nice and sooo expensive :/ BUT the food was amazing. we had no idea what we were ordering, we just pointed to a few dishes and i ended up trying peking duck, eel, and i even liked the shrimp

day 2 - we had class, and that sucked. my mind is definitely not in school mode.

Me, adam and kylee went to Macau and did some gambling.... which i don't recommend doing in Asia unless you are very familiar with the games, because the dealers don't know english and can't explain to you what to do....

The Venetian casino was gorgeous and felt like we were hanging out in Italy for a night :)

day 3 - class this morning. tonight me and some girls are going to check out either Mong Kok (the busiest market in hong kong) or the Temple St. Night Market (and possibly get our fortunes read)

So far this trip has been perfect and I'm really enjoying it. There is so much to do and see. You learn how to do so much so fast here because you are forced to figure it out. While the people have been really nice, there have been so many times already where I've felt so lost and illiterate and stuck, which leads to a little homesickness.... but has really helped in learning more about HK.

also... i would consider myself an expert chopstick user by now ;)

one double decker bus, a fabulous mall, the beatles, a lot of walking, and i love HK

finally made it to hong kong!!

this day has been full of traveling. we got to the airport WAY to early this morning, but the bangkok airport is the best airport i've ever been too. me and adam loaded up on free samples of coco cups :)

i traveled on my own to my university, which was fun and scary and exciting all at the same time. I got a great view of Hong Kong on the double decker bus I had to take to get to the metro station. By the time i reached to the metro station i was sick of carrying around all my luggage and wasn't really sure what to do and i must have looked so lost becase a local came and asked me where i was going. He pointed me in the direction of the metro, and when i took the escalator up i found myself in a really fabulous mall with nice stores like armani exhange, marc jacobs, etc. I would have loved to hang out there for a while (of course) but i felt so ridiculous w/ two huge suitcases and my travel clothes on. the metro was attached to the mall and as i approached it i totally freaked out when I saw HOW MANY PEOPLE were coming & going. It would have been nuts, especially w/ all my luggage. So I went back down the escalator and got in a cab.

My taxi driver was rocking out to the Beatles, so the cab ride was fun.

He dropped me off at the front of my university and realized that I didn't know what dorm I was actually staying in....I ended up having to get another taxi to take me to the other side of the university, only a 10min walk but by now my bags felt like 200 pounds. the residence office was closed so I had to walk to the security office and all they did was give me a key.... about 20min later i found my dorm.

in the elevator i met the nicest girl, carrie, a local and she offered to take me to the market really quick so i could get some snacks & water and use the ATM. she was such a sweetheart!! when we got back she wanted to facebook, so she showed me how to use the computers & now here i am. but i think i should go upstairs and upack and shower...

also, the locals here have british accents and its the funniest thing i've ever heard :)

more on Thailand....

so, we left Thailand today, it broke my heart.
I LOVED it.

While we were in Phuket we stayed in some villas built into the jungle and it felt like we were on the jurassic park ride at universal studios when we took the mini car to our villa. Definitely made us feel like we were in thailand.

We got back from Phuket and went to another temple in bangkok, this time there were not really any other tourists which was a big plus. We got to walk around through most of the sanctuary and saw the places where the monks would live. Every buddhist man at age 20 is supposed to live in a temple for 1-3months to learn buddhism. The day we were there they were having a ceremony for the "graduated" monks, so that was very cool to see. Also, monks aren't allowed to touch or be touched by women, which obviously tempted me to see what would happen if i just happened to bump into one..... ;)

the next day we went to the chatuchak market which was so big and so cool to see. each vendor had something different, and even if it was the same product they were unique styles. i bought some handmade silk, it is pink w/ blank elephants on it, and it's going up in my house next year for sure... so hopefully my roommates will like it.

Later that night we went to an area called si loam and walked around Lamphini park. the park was really beautiful and it was different than any american park because it had what looked like a playgroud for adults, but it was basically an outdoor gym for them to work out... and there were a lot of thais using it.

in the afternoon kylee & i went and got a traditional thai massage... which was probably the best and weirdest massage ever. for $20 you get 2 hours of twisting and stretching and massaging every muscle on your body... even your kneecaps, and i had such a hard time controlling my giggling... especially since at one point i was completely raised off the ground. crazzzy.

We went to the si loam night market and went to a little thai restaurant/bar and had some beer and thai food for our last night in bangkok. kylee and i tried the Chang beer, a thai beer and lucky for me, Thais love heineken and consider it a local brew so i got one of those also. on our way back we got caught in a downpour & had to sprint to the metro, where adam told me and kylee he wanted "To Bang Sue" ;) a joke that no one will get until i can upload my pictures.

in conclusion, i love thailand and i have a ton more stories & memories from the trip to share.

kickin it in Thailand

we made it to thailand!

the flight wasn't as bad as we expected. we actually we got to sleep most of the way but me and kylee both swelled up. it felt like there was a layer of jelly under our skin, must have been the pressure but we were definitely rockin the cankles for awhile. and the flight made kylee a little delirious... she thought we was in Germany :)

the first morning we went to the grand palace, where the kings used to live. we also visited the temple which was sooo beautiful. it was made out of gold & rubies & sapphires & emeralds.

thailand actually produces a lot of gorgeous jewelry made with gemstones, so we went to the jewelry factory and of course i couldn't resist making a purchase :/

the food here is really good & spicy, so i love it. but the fruit is AMAZING. we've been snacking on some mangosteen, lychee, and rambustan that we bought at a small market in bangkok.

we visited Phuket today, which is phukin awesome! it is definitely the most beautiful beach we have ever been to. the water is very blue and soo warm.

basically, we are having a great time and i love it here :)

and even though we are on the other side of the world, we heard the news... RIP MJ :/

.... 24 hours to go.

I've finally finished packing. officially.

I had to repack because I was 15 pounds over the weight limit.... now, i'm 25 pounds under because i'm going to check two bags. so, lots of room for shopping!! (and yes, Cherry is coming to china!)

M&D are taking me to the airport tomorrow, I take off at 3:10pm - so watch for me ;) and arrive in Bangkok on June 25 at 12:05AM.

I checked the weather - lots & lots of rain, but that doesn't change the fact that in just a few more days i'll be in THAILAND! holla holla

and I get to see my big sister and big brother. (we'll miss you jopio)

I woke up this morning and was so excited and then nervous and then happy and then sad to leave and i can't control myself. Deb said by the time i land i'll be "squirrely". hahaha